Pathways to the Sustainable Development of Quality Education for International Students in China: An fsQCA Approach

Abstract

The number of international students in China continues to grow rapidly. Consequently, taking practical and effective measures to achieve the sustainable development of education for international students in China has become an urgent problem. In this study, 425 representative colleges and universities in China were selected to participate in questionnaire surveys; fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) configuration analysis methods were adopted, and pathways to effectively improving the quality of education were studied from a holistic perspective. The findings showed that a combination of influencing factors can best achieve the sustainable development of the education of international students in China. The quality of international student sources plays a vital role in the sustainable development of education in colleges and universities in China. The two areas of educational training and management service have strong importance in the process of improving education for international students in China. When the quality of student sources cannot be improved, institutions can achieve the sustainable development of education by strengthening education training and teaching management.

1. Introduction

Education systems have become increasingly focused on sustainable issues. Recently, quality education was named the 4th goal of the United Nations Agenda 2030 in terms of sustainable development goals (SDGs), aiming to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all [1]. The development of international student education, which is conducive to promoting the flow of regional educational resources, could provide more educational opportunities worldwide, especially to developing country citizens, and thus lead to inclusive and equitable education for all. After graduation and returning to their home countries, international student graduates have more job opportunities and can promote the development of their countries.

Since the reform and opening-up policy was adopted in 1980, the remarkable growth of the Chinese economy has attracted the attention of many countries in terms of economics and trade as well as educational cooperation with China [2]. Thus, China has rapidly become an emerging destination for international students. Per recent statistical data from the state education commission, China accepted 4,960,000 international students in 2018, nearly all of whom attend Chinese higher education institutions (HEISs).

However, Chinese international students’ education is still considered to be in the early stage of sustainable development. In recent years, with the rapid rise in the number of international students in China, quality problems with education, such as the quality of enrolling, teaching, management and graduates, have emerged and aroused widespread concern in society.

In summary, international student education plays an imperative role in advancing sustainability. Therefore, taking effective measures to improve the quality of international student education has become an important task for Chinese HEISs. However, in the process of construction, because the time and resources of HEISs are limited, HEISs cannot exert efforts simultaneously and comprehensively. This paper adopts the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to explore possible pathways to improve the sustainable development of quality education for international students in China that involve fewer key factors.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Sustainable Development of Education

“Sustainable development” was first introduced in the environmental field and refers to development that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations [3]. In recent years, it has gained general acceptance and become a holistic concept that encompasses four dimensions: society, economy, politics and the natural environment [4]. Education is an important part of the social system. Thus, the sustainable development of education plays a vital role in the sustainable development of society [5]. On the one hand, education can respond to the pressure of social change by altering individual attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles through awareness, capacity building and other means [6]. On the other hand, education can not only halt the intergenerational transmission of poverty and help reduce inequality, but is also an important driver of peaceful societies. Against this background, sustainable development in education is gradually receiving increasing attention. At the macro level, the primary issue is how to define “sustainable development in education”. Scholars such as Mariem Fekih Zguir et al. [7] consider sustainable development in education or ESD (education for sustainable development) from a global perspective as the same concept that aims to systematically understand and transform educational systems to promote and inspire sustainability in the minds, hearts and actions of future generations. Based on this understanding, Leicht et al. [8] give more prominence to the creation of high-quality systems for the sustainable development of societies across the world. Regarding sustainable development in education, scholars have pointed out that higher education institutions are important. Therefore, the efforts and support of higher education institutions are indispensable for achieving sustainable development in education. One important way to achieve the latter is to integrate a sustainable development framework into university programs [9]. In addition, the content and teaching methods of courses and the development of the internal mechanisms of higher education institutions are important means of achieving sustainable development in education [10,11,12].

Existing research shows that sustainable development in education is a driving force in global sustainable development; in particular, education can change human behavior in terms of consciousness and its implementation by disseminating and creating knowledge. Moreover, quality education is one of the goals of sustainable development. However, the quality of education, as an important guarantee of student development, deserves further investigation in terms of how it can contribute to sustainable development. At the same time, the research of Hernandez et al. also proves this. By investigating 3764 teachers in Spain at each level of education, they studied change in the education paradigm, especially paying attention to the location, methods, means and evaluation, and change. Their results show that the process did not satisfy all involved agents; in short, how to improve the quality of education remains to be studied [13]. Therefore, based on existing research, this study examines the quality of education for international students in China to explore pathways for its sustainable development.

2.2. The Quality of Education for International Students

International student education is a part of global education, and its support is necessary for sustainable development. The internationalization of higher education has led to an increase in the number of international students, and international student education has gradually shifted from the stage of scale development to that of quality development, which has drawn researchers’ attention to the quality of international student education. International scholars’ research on the quality of education for international students has focused on two main aspects: factors influencing the quality of education for international students and pathways to improve the quality of education for international students. On the one hand, scholars have found that financial support for students, especially financial aid and scholarships, have the greatest impact on the quality of education. The professional knowledge and skills of the teachers also play a role [14,15]. Additionally, the training program requirements and the quality of services provided by educational institutions play a large role in the quality of education for international students [16,17,18,19]. Job placement plays a fully mediating role in the relationship between industrial links and service quality [20]. The effects of these influences are perceived in the students themselves, in turn affecting the quality of international students’ education [21]. On the other hand, racial issues can also affect the development of educational quality, given differences in the social backgrounds of international students [22]. In terms of research on the pathways to improve the quality of education for international students, studies show that improving the capacity of educational institutions is an important way to improve the quality of international student education in China [23]. The reform of teaching methods will affect the quality of teaching, which in turn will affect educational quality. Influenced by COVID-19, the education mode of international students began to turn to distance education, which puts forward higher requirements [24]. Education institutions can further explore new teaching methods [25], such as networking, public speaking and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) tools [26,27,28,29]. Furthermore, educational institutions should improve the online education platforms given for online education during the COVID-19 pandemic [30,31]. In addition, due to the different cultural backgrounds of international students, it is necessary to strictly manage all aspects according to the theory of total quality management and to promote awareness of quality throughout the education process, which is essential for improving the quality of international student education [32,33].

As an important component of global international student education, the number of international students in China has been increasing annually, and related research has also been gradually enriched. At present, research on the quality of education focuses on the following aspects. In terms of factors influencing the quality of education, Li et al. [34] used a one-way variance approach to study international students with master’s degrees at four Chinese universities and found that the curriculum, teaching methods and language level can affect the quality of education. Some scholars have looked at one aspect of the quality of education for international students in China. Fakhra et al. [35] adopted descriptive statistics, principal component analysis (PCA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) and found that the English language proficiency of teachers, the gender and the type of specialization of international students all influence the quality of service. Tian et al. [36] used descriptive statistics and AMOS research methods to study 1428 international students in 34 Chinese universities and found that international students have low learning participation, relying more on teachers’ teaching, and it is difficult to achieve teacher–student interaction, which places certain limitations on improving educational quality. Krause et al. [37] also demonstrated that students’ engagement in learning plays an important role in the control of educational practices and quality. Han et al. [38] conducted interviews that revealed that language level affects international students’ learning participation to a certain extent, thus affecting the teaching quality. Scholars have studied how to improve the quality of education from different perspectives. In terms of teaching, the quality of education for international students can be improved by increasing teachers’ language proficiency levels and determining curriculum content according to student needs [39]. In terms of student quality, we need to improve the language levels of students and strengthen the qualification certification of overseas education institutions [40]. In terms of resource support, the educational quality of international students can be improved by formulating scientific scholarship policies (including funding schemes, evaluation mechanisms and supporting measures) [41].

The above literature review indicates that international scholars have conducted fewer studies on the quality of international student education in China, while Chinese scholars have conducted more research, which is gradually deepening. However, how to improve the education quality of international study, especially in China so as to promote its sustainable development, still needs to be further explored. The research samples in the past literature on the education quality of international student in China only cover several or some institutions, which is not enough. In addition, most studies are mainly from students’ perspectives. Therefore, on the basis of previous studies, this paper conducts further study on the following two aspects. First, in terms of research samples, this study covers all 425 typical colleges and universities across the country, whose number of international students in 2018 was at least 200, to conduct a large study from top-level administrators’ perspectives. Second, in terms of research methods, the traditional analysis method of plane “net effect” ignores the interaction between single influencing factors, while the configuration analysis takes a holistic and systematic approach; that is, the configuration at the case level rather than a single variable is used to analyze the results. The multidimensional and holistic characteristics of configuration analysis make it advantageous for analyzing strategic management and other problems. At the same time, the quality of international students’ education results from the joint action of many factors, and this plane “net effect” analysis cannot explain the complex relationship of interdependence among various factors. Therefore, the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was selected to perform data analysis.

To sum up, this study takes 425 representative institutions as the research sample and adopts the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to explore the pathway of improving the quality of education of international students in China from the perspective of administrators so as to promote its sustainable development.

3. Research Methodology

3.1. Method

The influencing factors of the quality of international student education in China are complex, and the traditional exploration of single factors is not comprehensive and systematic. Therefore, in this paper, the traditional research and analysis method based on the “independent-dependent variable” one-factor binary relationship was not used; instead, the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method, based on set theory combined with Boolean algebra, was used. Fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis combines qualitative and quantitative analysis and facilitates case study-oriented configuration analysis. On the one hand, it uses the idea of set theory to analyze causation. On the other hand, it combines the influencing factors to form a configuration according to the analyzed causation. As such, it can find a path to improve the quality of international student education in China.

3.2. Object

At present, the latest authoritative data on the number of institutions that accept international students in China are from the “Concise Statistics of International Students in China in 2018” released by the Ministry of Education. It comprises the annual development data of international students in China issued by the International Department of the Ministry of Education every year. It requires all higher education institutions to submit a report, which must then be confirmed by the education departments of various provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government), which offers a certain degree of authority. According to the “Concise Statistics of International Students Coming to China in 2018”, 1004 institutions across the country accepted international students, of which 425 institutions reached or exceeded 200 students. The international students in these 425 institutions account for 76% of the total number of international students in China. Therefore, the data about international student education of the 425 institutions could represent an overview of international student education in China to a large extent. Thus, this paper selects these 425 colleges and universities that accepted 200 or more international students in 2018 as the research sample.

3.3. Questionnaire Design and Pre-Survey

First, the paper used the entropy method to select 50 relatively important influencing factors from the 66 educational quality standards in “Higher Education Quality Specifications for International Students in China (Trial)” published by the Chinese Ministry of Education, which is based on the practical experience of the research group. Then, we invited 25 experts from 23 Chinese universities (all middle-level management cadres with more than 10 years of front-line work experience with international students) to further screen the indicators. According to the opinions of these experts, the study determined 30 influencing factors that were considered needing the most attention to improve the quality of international students’ education. Then, according to the selected indicators, a Likert seven-point scale was designed, which ranges from “generally important” to “very important”. To ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, we conducted a pre-survey of 20 questionnaires. Based on the results, we revised three ambiguous questions. Finally, the application Questionnaire Star was used to convert the paper questionnaire into an electronic questionnaire. The application Questionnaire Star is manufactured by Changsha Questionnaire Star Network Technology Co., Ltd, it’s located at 903, Phase 3, Manting Fang Jiayuan, 238 Liujiachong North Road, Tianxin District, Changsha City, Hunan Province.

3.4. Questionnaire Distribution and Data Collection

After the universities were targeted and the questionnaire design was completed, selecting a person to complete the questionnaire on behalf of the university became key to guaranteeing the quality of the results. It was finally determined to select the chief person who works in the centralized management function department and oversees the international student affairs to complete the questionnaire. To ensure that the electronic questionnaire was sent to the heads of 425 colleges and universities distributed in 29 provinces (autonomous regions or municipalities directly under the central government), the research team successively obtained contacts through the International Student Management Branch of the China Higher Education Association, the International Department of Education of each province, the Provincial International Student Management Branch and the directors (deans) of influential institutions or directly contacted the individuals through the university website or via telephone and then sent the questionnaire through email or WeChat. Next, we checked the questionnaires one by one. The questionnaires were completed by 203 department-level staff, 138 deputy department-level staff and 84 international student affairs leaders at the section level and below, of which department-level staff accounted for 80% of all individuals who completed the questionnaire. This proportion ensured the maximum validity and authority of the questionnaire data. The research team took eight months to finish questionnaire distribution and data collection.

3.5. Selection of the Influencing Conditions

The authoritative basis of this research is the “Quality Specifications for Higher Education for International Students in China (Trial)” formulated by the Ministry of Education. According to the opinions of 25 experts and research teams, the 30 most important influencing factors for improving the quality of education of international students were selected from the indicators of the “Higher Education Quality Specifications for International Students in China (Trial)”. These influencing factors can be categorized into the following six types of condition variables.

The first type of variable is admissions and recruitment. There are several important factors affecting the quality of international students, including the entrance examination, minimum education requirements, language proficiency requirements, clear admissions procedures and rules, strict identity qualification examination and active preparatory education. Zheng et al. [42] conducted an empirical study of undergraduate enrolment quality evaluation based on factor analysis. Enrolment is the basic work of talent training. They found that high-quality students are necessary to ensure the quality of high-level talent training in undergraduate education, which determines the starting point of college teaching. However, student quality cannot be guaranteed, which will inevitably affect the quality of high-level talent training. Mu et al. [43] pointed out that student quality is the basis of improving the quality of talent training.

The second type of variable is education and training. There are several influencing factors, including setting appropriate international student training objectives meeting the requirements of current national standards and university condition, a clear training plan, enough courses of General Introduction of China and Chinese language, unified degree thesis writing and defense, student guidance for newcomers, tutoring and learning support, and experiencing activities on Chinese life and culture. Zhang et al. [44] pointed out that the quality assurance of talent training must be established from the following aspects, including creating a scientific and rational program for talent training, improving the teaching operation management system, improving the teaching staff, refining the teaching quality supervision and evaluation system, and ensuring the implementation of talent training objectives under the credit system. Designing a scientific and rational training program for talent is the foundation. Under the background of applied higher education reform, it is particularly urgent to achieve a combination of professional talent and contemporary work, adjust professional training standards, clarify the training objectives for talent, optimize talent training programs and effectively improve the quality of applied talent training.

The third type of variable is faculties. This is mainly concerned with strengthening the development of teaching staff and improving the professional level and teaching ability of staff through recruitment, teaching research and training. Undoubtedly, education quality is the lifeline of all schools, and teaching staff are an important guarantee of education quality. Professional education requires a great social commitment, training students to face real world projects. From this perspective, teachers in higher education institutions (HEISs) must maintain a high degree of motivation and strive to achieve better standards; it is essential for higher education instructors to maintain high quality in the training process and participate adequately in their career [45,46].

The fourth type of variable is teaching and management. There are several influencing factors, including complete school status and education management, strict and standardized attendance systems, clear and consistent examination and assessment methods, and participation in evaluation on teaching. It is well known that teaching quality is a lifeline of the school and that effective management policies affect the rise and decline of the school. Therefore, individuals continue to make great efforts to seek the best mode of teaching management for quality assurance. Effective management and reasonable assessment are important guarantees of teaching quality. Howlett et al. [47] pointed out that achieving a high level of teaching quality in higher education is important to realize the national strategy of revitalizing a nation through science and education. Chinese colleges and universities must face the problems in teaching quality management and shift from passive assessment of teaching quality to spontaneous continuous improvements. Although the quality management of higher education is a diversified management system that has different types, different conditions of colleges and universities have different teaching quality standards and education targets. However, from the perspective of continuous improvement for teaching quality, a standardized and controllable management process can provide effective support for higher education with clear responsibility.

The fifth type of variable is management and services. There are several factors, including the requirements of complete administrative management originations for international students, the construction of the management team and system, the management and service ability, the law, system and safety education for international students, emergency management, and the implementation of a full insurance system. Numerous studies have pointed out the significant impact of service quality on student satisfaction in many countries [18]. Higher education is a professional service that differs in many respects from other services and requires separate treatment. Similar to other professional services (for example, law, consulting, and architecture), higher education is at the pure service end of the goods–services continuum [48].

The sixth type of variable is resources and support. This category includes adequate fund management and support, standardized dormitory rooms, management and services, and the ability to provide necessary medical services and psychological counselling. Matyukhina et al. [49] pointed out the peculiarities of the influence of educational financing sources on the effectiveness of pedagogical activity. Studies [50] have also demonstrated that a paradigm shift for balanced national development must be urgently pursued. As one of the measures, it is necessary to make efforts to achieve the balanced development of higher education and to secure stable financial resources for higher education.

3.6. Selection of the Result Condition

At present, the most authoritative literature on the statistics and collation of the status of training international students in colleges and universities nationwide is the “Concise Statistics of International Students in China”, which is published by the Chinese Ministry of Education every year. These statistics record the total number of international students accepted by institutions in China every year and non-academic students, undergraduate students and graduate students (including master’s students and doctoral students). At the current stage of development, according to the opinions of 25 experts and research teams, the number and proportion of undergraduate and graduate students accepted are considered to represent the quality of education for international students in a higher education institution, and the amount of non-academic education is also an important indicator of the quality of education for international students, especially for universities and vocational colleges located in western China. Therefore, the study used the number of foreign graduate students, the number of undergraduate students and the number of non-academic students as the result condition to achieve full coverage of the samples. The study used the entropy method to weight the number of foreign graduate students, the number of undergraduate students and the number of non-academic students to form a result variable. The use of the entropy method for weight division can ensure the objectivity of the results.

3.7. Research Framework

The quality of education for international students in China is a dynamic development process, and is the result of the intersection of multiple factors. Therefore, to research the improvement path of education quality of international students in China, it is necessary to deeply explore the complex relationship between its influencing factors, so as to understand how each factor affects the quality of education. At the same time, the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method has the advantage of configuring different influencing factors to identify different paths. Therefore, this study uses the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method to explore the path of education quality of international students in China.

As mentioned above, the influencing factors in this study are categorized into the following six types of condition variables: admissions and recruitment (RA), education and training (ET), teaching and management (TM), faculties (FA), management and service (MS) and resources and support (RS). They are combined through configuration analysis to find an effective path to improve the quality of education. The research framework formed is shown in Figure 1.

Through the above research framework, it can be seen that the quality of education for international students in China is the result of the combined action of multiple factors; at the same time, the influencing factors affect each other, and they can form different groups for the quality of education, so this study adopts configuration analysis to explore the path to improving the quality of education for international students in China.

4. Data Calibration and Results Analysis

4.1. Data Calibration

To ensure that the original measurements can be interpreted and have set significance, the variable data need to be calibrated to convert them into a set concept before performing data analysis. Calibration not only distinguishes categorical differences between different cases but also further clarifies the degree of the differences, which helps to clearly assess the degree of membership of each case in the collection. The raw data of the variables studied in this paper were obtained by using a Likert 7-point scale, which included the following choices: 1 “very unimportant”, 2 “slightly important”, 3 “important in general”, 4 “important”, 5 “more important”, 6 “very important”, and 7 “most important”. To explore the influencing factors of the quality of international student training in more detail, this research conducted research from a holistic perspective, and according to Ragin’s direct calibration method, the data were calibrated according to the prescribed threshold values of 5% (completely unaffiliated), 95% (fully subordinate) and 50% (intersection). fsQCA31 software was used to convert the original score into a fuzzy set membership function and calibrate the data separately.

First, in the process of calibration, it was necessary to find the anchor point of calibration. The data were evenly distributed, so a three-stage calibration method was used. The various dimensions in the data of the overall institutions were summed, and then the values of the three stages of 95%, 50% and 5% were used for calibration. However, because of the descriptive statistics of the overall analysis of the institutions, the values of 95% and 50% of the “faculties” are equal (i.e., 14), the 50% value of this item is calibrated to the mean value of this sample, and the result is shown in

Table A1. Overall institutional variable calibration anchor points.

Study Variables	Variable Name	Anchor Point
		Fully Subordinate (95%)	Intersection (50%)	Not Affiliated (5%)
Anterior dependent variables	Admissions and Recruitment	42	36	25
	Education and Training	49	44	29.30
	Faculties	14	12.85	9.3
	Teaching and Management	35	31	21
	Management and Service	49	47	33.30
	Resources and Support	21	19	12
Result variables	Outcome	1140.40	205	75

in Appendix A. Finally, the calibration can yield fuzzy set membership scores of 0.5 (i.e., maximum ambiguity, neither in nor out of the set). To minimize ambiguity, a constant of 0.001 was added to the fuzzy set membership scores for all conditions below full membership [51]. The operation of adding 0.001 was selected for the dimension where the intersection of 0.5 was selected during data processing. The final processing result is shown in

Table A2. Overall college fuzzy set.

School Code	School Name	AR	ET	FA	TM	MS	RS	OUTCOME
10001	Peking University	0.821	0.951	0.950	0.951	0.951	0.951	1.000
10002	Renmin University of China	0.921	0.861	0.950	0.901	0.951	0.951	0.900
10003	Tsinghua University	0.621	0.651	0.950	0.951	0.951	0.951	1.000
10004	Beijing Jiaotong University	0.951	0.921	0.950	0.901	0.451	0.821	0.860
10005	Beijing University of Technology	0.501	0.351	0.170	0.231	0.211	0.301	0.630
10006	Beihang University	0.731	0.771	0.950	0.231	0.501	0.821	0.900
10007	Beijing Institute of Technology	0.881	0.651	0.600	0.821	0.391	0.821	0.880
10008	University of Science and Technology Beijing	0.951	0.951	0.950	0.681	0.951	0.951	0.670
10009	North China University of Technology	0.731	0.651	0.950	0.821	0.951	0.951	0.540
10010	Beijing University of Chemical Technology	0.251	0.311	0.330	0.431	0.251	0.391	0.310
……	……	……	……	……	……	……	……	……
13931	Sanya Aviation and Tourism College	0.371	0.951	0.950	0.951	0.951	0.951	0.790
14022	Tianjin Maritime College	0.251	0.261	0.170	0.231	0.151	0.221	0.110
14067	Liuzhou City Vocational College	0.371	0.861	0.950	0.901	0.951	0.951	0.200
14073	Beijing Vocational College of Economics and Management	0.251	0.261	0.600	0.181	0.151	0.221	0.330
14275	Zhejiang International Studies University	0.311	0.141	0.330	0.231	0.121	0.221	0.060
14430	University of Chinese Academy of Sciences	0.311	0.401	0.950	0.231	0.101	0.151	0.810
14440	Guizhou Institute of Technology	0.011	0.081	0.080	0.111	0.151	0.151	0.060
16301	University of Nottingham Ningbo China	0.371	0.451	0.950	0.141	0.071	0.151	0.610
16403	Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University	0.881	0.951	0.950	0.951	0.951	0.951	0.680
16404	New York University Shanghai	0.881	0.951	0.950	0.951	0.951	0.951	0.660

Note: Due to the length of the book, the fuzzy set intercepts the first ten and the last ten data samples according to the university code table. If other data are needed, they can be requested from the authors.

in Appendix A.

4.2. Analysis of the Necessity of Individual Conditions

Before combinatorial analysis of the raw data, it is necessary to analyze the necessity of the individual conditions to determine the necessary conditions that can affect the quality of education for international students. It is generally considered that if the necessity of a single condition reaches 0.9, it can become a necessary condition. Therefore, the study analyzed 424 schools and conducted a necessity test. The results are shown in

Table A3. Necessity of the conditions relative to the quality.

Condition Tested	Consistency	Coverage
RA	0.734918	0.579246
~RA	0.608272	0.576798
ET	0.737760	0.562734
~ET	0.589200	0.582047
FA	0.809045	0.501482
~FA	0.407270	0.573614
TM	0.729194	0.550888
~TM	0.586231	0.586439
MS	0.715210	0.525471
~MS	0.553957	0.575700
RS	0.736410	0.521457
~RS	0.543570	0.596607

Note: The symbol ~ denotes the absence of a condition.

in Appendix A. The analysis shows that some individual conditions are close, but do not reach 0.9. Thus, among these conditions, there are no necessary conditions that affect the quality of international student education in China. The results also showed that the independent interpretation of educational quality by individual conditions is weak. Thus, it is necessary to conduct the next step of the combined analysis to further explore the influencing factors of the quality of international student education in China.

4.3. Truth Table

Scholars hold different views regarding the threshold of the truth table. For example, Schneider and Wagemann asserted that the consistency level of determining adequacy should not be lower than 0.75, while Du Yunzhou and other scholars set the consistency threshold to 0.8 [52]. For the frequency threshold, it is believed that the threshold for small and medium-sized samples should be set to 1, and for the large sample should be greater than 1. To maximize the effectiveness of sample information, this study sets the consistency threshold to 0.8 and the frequency threshold to 1 on the basis of the combination of previous studies and their own research and finally forms the following truth table values, as shown in

Table A4. Truth value table.

RA	ET	FA	TM	MS	RS	NUMBER	OUTCOME	RAW Consist	PRI Consist	SYM Consist
1	1	1	1	1	1	141	0	0.630950	0.350967	0.398707
0	0	0	0	0	0	63	0	0.654677	0.337289	0.370109
0	0	1	0	0	0	24	0	0.763907	0.370371	0.379055
1	0	0	0	0	0	20	0	0.787353	0.349248	0.349248
0	1	1	1	1	1	20	0	0.741680	0.287215	0.290818
1	1	1	0	1	1	13	0	0.774577	0.311223	0.311223
1	1	1	1	0	0	10	0	0.813067	0.374359	0.376039
1	0	1	0	0	0	8	0	0.811671	0.363513	0.367482
0	0	1	1	0	0	7	0	0.806532	0.335822	0.335822
0	0	1	0	1	1	7	0	0.755499	0.248691	0.248691
1	0	1	1	0	1	6	0	0.816994	0.322762	0.323401
0	1	1	0	1	1	6	0	0.765197	0.258871	0.259239
1	1	1	1	0	1	5	0	0.801044	0.336616	0.336616
0	0	1	0	0	1	5	0	0.772822	0.293738	0.293738
1	1	1	0	0	0	4	0	0.823453	0.365731	0.365730
1	0	0	1	1	1	4	0	0.811082	0.342840	0.342840
0	1	0	0	0	0	4	0	0.801738	0.284654	0.284654
0	0	1	1	0	1	4	0	0.790658	0.274679	0.274679
0	0	0	1	0	0	4	0	0.787653	0.294752	0.294752
0	0	0	0	0	1	4	0	0.781408	0.310947	0.310947
0	0	1	1	1	1	4	0	0.765053	0.239808	0.239809
1	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	0.824734	0.348945	0.348945
1	1	1	0	0	1	3	0	0.817304	0.342882	0.343974
1	0	0	1	0	1	3	0	0.811719	0.333850	0.333850
1	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0.811089	0.345388	0.347796
0	0	1	0	1	0	3	0	0.806039	0.280694	0.280694
0	0	0	0	1	1	3	0	0.791635	0.269798	0.270633
0	0	0	1	0	1	3	0	0.786327	0.280000	0.280001
1	0	1	1	1	1	3	0	0.777419	0.287930	0.288322
1	1	0	1	0	0	2	1	0.844200	0.353165	0.353165
1	0	0	0	1	0	2	1	0.841044	0.360396	0.360397
1	0	1	1	1	0	2	0	0.828073	0.321015	0.321248
0	1	1	1	0	0	2	0	0.825458	0.366394	0.366394
0	1	1	1	1	0	2	0	0.819214	0.323277	0.323277
0	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	0.818842	0.361684	0.361684
0	1	0	1	0	1	2	0	0.815708	0.292940	0.292940
0	1	1	0	1	0	2	0	0.814999	0.288655	0.288655
1	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0.813204	0.317776	0.317776
1	1	1	1	1	0	2	0	0.807711	0.346433	0.346433
1	1	0	1	1	1	2	0	0.804857	0.316999	0.317973
0	1	0	1	1	1	2	0	0.798187	0.251046	0.251046
1	1	0	0	1	0	1	1	0.855571	0.375208	0.375209
1	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	0.848775	0.369380	0.369380
0	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	0.846431	0.302317	0.302317
1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.844011	0.379261	0.379261
1	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0.828559	0.334840	0.334841
0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0.825657	0.279621	0.279621
1	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	0.82386	0.326172	0.326172
1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0.821732	0.329837	0.329837
1	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0.820853	0.312727	0.312727
0	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	0.820165	0.302870	0.302870
1	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0.810552	0.323833	0.323833
0	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	0.808888	0.310159	0.310159
0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0.792382	0.261144	0.262192
1	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	0.778750	0.264543	0.264543

in Appendix A.

4.4. Configuration Analysis

Through the data analysis, three kinds of solutions were obtained: a complex solution, an intermediate solution and a parsimonious solution. Since the antecedent variables in this study lacked theoretical evidence to prove that they were necessary conditions, it was assumed that the existence or nonexistence of each antecedent variable could act on high-quality education for international students in China. Therefore, this study identified the core conditions of each solution by comparing the nested relationship between the intermediate and parsimonious solutions and adopted the principle that the conditions that appear in both the intermediate and parsimonious solutions are the core conditions, while the conditions that appear only in the intermediate solution are the marginal conditions. Finally, configuration analysis tables were formed (

Table 1. Overall institutional configuration analysis.

Condition	Configuration
	P1a	P1b	P2a	P2b	P3
Recruitment & Admission(RA)	⚫	⚫	⚫	⚫	⨂
Education & Training (ET)	⚫	⚫	⨂		⚫
Faculties (FA)	⊗	⊗	⊗	⊗	⊗
Teaching & Management (TM)		⨂		⨂	⚫
Management & Service (MS)	⨂		⚫	⚫	●
Resource & Support (RS)	⊗	⊗	⊗	⊗	⊗
raw coverage	0.206	0.204	0.195	0.188	0.179
unique coverage	0.001	0.001	0.004	0.000	0.006
consistency	0.838	0.839	0.833	0.841	0.847
solution coverage	0.227
solution consistency	0.805

Note: ⚫ and ● indicates that the condition exists, ⊗ and ⨂ indicate that the condition does not exist; ⚫ and ⊗ indicates a core condition, ● and ⨂ indicates an edge condition. A blank entry indicates that the condition may or may not exist.

).

The configuration analysis of overall institutions includes five main paths, whose overall consistency reaches over 80%, so these paths have high reference value for institutions to achieve high-quality education for international students in China. Among the five paths, the first, second, third, and fourth are similar, and the five paths can be interpreted by dividing them into three main paths (three types of paths). The details are as follows:

Path 1 (P1:RA*ET*~FA*~MS*~RS/RA*ET*~FA*~TM*~RS): “Recruitment” and “training” are carried out simultaneously to strengthen enrolment and training. This path includes P1a and P1b, two subpaths with slight differences. In this path, the conditional existence of recruitment and admission (RA) and education and training (ET), the absence of the conditions for faculties (FA) and resource and support (RS) are the core conditions, and the marginal condition is the nonexistence of the conditions for management and service (P1a) or the conditions for teaching and management (P1b). This path shows that at present, if Chinese universities cannot improve the competence of teaching staff and obtain supporting resources in a short period of time, they can nonetheless improve the quality of international student education by strengthening the enrolment and education training of international students. As long as these two tasks are performed well, management and service (MS) or teaching and management (TM) are dispensable, and no longer important conditions. The quality of international student education in China can be improved by promoting the recruitment process and ensuring student quality. Increasing the curriculum system setting and credit structure should be flexible according to the subgoals of professional ability, Chinese language ability, knowledge and understanding of China, and cross-cultural and global competence in the training goals. Rationally adjusting the training management work such as courses and credit ratios in the training program is also an important part of improving the quality of education for international students in China.

At present, Chinese universities generally recognize the importance of improving the quality of international student education. In this respect, university administrators aspire to obtain sufficient financial guarantees from external donors, which can provide high-quality accommodation conditions and MS for international students, high-quality medical and psychological consulting services, and an excellent and fully competent teaching team to attract high-quality students, thus laying the foundations of resources and teachers for improving educational quality. However, the administrators of various universities are also aware that with both the development of teaching staff and obtaining resources, the process is long-term, the cycle is long, the difficulty is high, and the situation cannot be significantly improved in a short period; thus, the conditions of FA and RS at the current stage can be considered to be temporarily “non-existent”. Thus, in all five pathways, FA and RS conditions are considered “non-existent” core conditions.

Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that for Chinese colleges and universities, regardless of the level, resource conditions and teachers, as long as colleges focus on enrolment and training in the enrolment process, they can improve the quality by strengthening the examination of students’ qualifications (language, academic qualifications, abilities), being strict with entrance examinations and admissions procedures, etc. If necessary, to further improve student quality, they can also carry out preparatory education. At the same time, in the training process, by formulating appropriate talent training goals, training programs and graduation degree requirements, strengthening academic guidance, learning support and cross-cultural education, and by grasping the key training links such as “entrance” and “exit”, the quality of education for international students in China can also be rapidly improved.

The unique coverage of the two subpaths of P1 (P1a, P1b) is the same, and the difference between the consistency and raw coverage is only 0.001 and 0.002, respectively, which shows that the realization possibilities of paths P1a and P1b are nearly identical; only from the perspective of data analysis differentiation is P1b more likely to achieve high-quality development than P1a; that is, compared with MS, TM does not exist, which is more likely to improve the quality of education for international students in China. MS may be more conducive to improving the quality of education than TM.

Path 2 (P2:RA*MS*~ET*~FA*~RS/RA*MS*~FA*~TM*~RS): “Recruitment” and “management” are equally important, highlighting the importance of enrolment and management. This path includes two subpaths with slight differences, P2a and P2b. In this path, the conditional presence of RA and MS and the absence of the conditions for FA and RS are the core conditions, and the marginal condition is the nonexistence of the conditions for management & service (P1a) or the conditions for teaching & management (P1b). This path shows that, at present, Chinese universities can improve the quality of education for international students by strengthening enrolment and RA and MS when they are unable to improve the quality of teaching staff and the level of resource support and may not be able to improve ET or TM. That is, enrolment and admissions is the first step to determine the quality of education for international students in China, namely, ensuring that the international students have qualified qualification backgrounds and learning capabilities, which is the basis and starting point for improving the quality of talent training. It is also necessary to improve the education management and service level of international students, continuously improve the management and service system for international students, and build a mature social support environment to promote the full development of international student education, such as continuously promoting “convergence management”, strengthening the autonomy management of schools, establishing an open service concept, further improving service levels, and other measures. As long as recruitment and management are combined and complement each other, the education of international students in China can achieve high-quality development.

The core conditions for paths P2 and P1 are essentially the same, with the conditions of FA and RS being absent and RA being one of the conditions present. The only difference is that the other core condition changes from ET to MS. The comparison shows that RA plays a key role in the path of improving the quality of international students coming to China; meanwhile, it is also important to strengthen the management services for international students. In addition to strengthening the recruitment and admissions of international students, universities can focus on the management of international students. Specifically, institutions can improve the organization and team of international students, the management system, the management and service capacity, building an insurance system, and the legal and safety education and emergency management for international students. The management team of international students plays an important role in improving the quality of education for international students.

Path 3 (P3:ET*TM*MS*~RA*~FA*~RA): “Teaching” and “training” are combined to strengthen each other. In this path, the existence of ET and TM and the absence of FA and RS are the core conditions, while the existence of MS and the absence of admissions are the marginal conditions. This observation suggests that Chinese universities can improve the quality of international student education by strengthening ET and TM, even if they cannot improve the quality of the teaching faculty and access to resource support. Additionally, they may not be able to strengthen RA, but can improve MS. That is, whether the teaching management mode and method are scientific or not is of great significance for determining the quality of international students’ university education, and universities can improve educational quality through teaching management measures such as updating teaching concepts, strengthening live Chinese teaching, improving the quality of management personnel, and optimizing the management system. In addition, it is necessary to further education cultivation. At present, the cultivation modes of international students in China span four main categories, convergent cultivation, joint cultivation, one-to-one cultivation and cross-cultural cultivation, which require universities to choose suitable cultivation modes according to their own development conditions. Meanwhile, universities should build a standardized system in multiple dimensions, strengthen the combination of their own advantages and the professional needs of international students, broaden the vision of international students’ cultivation and standardize the mechanism to further enhance the high-quality development of international students’ education.

In view of the current development of international student education and training in universities, only by updating education concepts, expanding education ideas and actively exploring new modes of international student education can we better connect with the international market. In practice, some Chinese universities may not be able to improve the quality of international students by taking measures in the area of admissions. Under such circumstances, universities can still make more efforts in teaching and cultivating international students and adopt the “lenient entry and strict exit” mode. Specifically, they can formulate appropriate cultivation objectives, cultivation programs, degree defense and graduation requirements and strengthen academic guidance, study support and intercultural education for international students. The P3 path is designed to significantly improve the quality and standard of education for international students by improving academic guidance, study support and intercultural education, as well as academic registration, examination and attendance management, student assessment and quality assurance.

In the P3 path, MS is the marginal condition of existence outside the core conditions of ET and TM, indicating that although MS is not as important as ET and TM, it nevertheless a marginal condition of existence that may thus play a role. According to the P3 path, in addition to the importance of education and teaching, attention should be paid to measures to strengthen the management services of international students.

5. Conclusions and Discussion

5.1. Conclusions

The following conclusions were formulated based on the above configuration analysis of 425 higher education institutions.

First, among the five paths, there is no single factor that can improve the quality of international student education in China. The quality development of higher education for international students in China can be achieved only through a combination of factors. In practice, each institution often takes a single measure or several measures according to its own conditions, and the measures may not correspond to guidelines or a theoretical basis. Thus, the combination of paths found by this research can provide theoretical guidance and a reference for universities to take measures in the future. At the same time, as the basic conditions possessed by each institution are different, each institution can choose suitable combination paths according to its actual situation. For each institution, there is no single optimal solution, only a more suitable solution.

Second, at present, strengthening RA is an important means to improve the quality of international student education in China. Among the five paths of P1a, P1b, P2a, P2b and P3, RA is one of the two core conditions in the first four paths, which fully shows the importance of strengthening RA. First, we must control RA well and strengthen the RA process to ensure high student quality. The knowledge level of students is the “source” and “foundation” of the quality of education for international students in China. However, RA is not the only condition and must be combined with other conditions. The quality of education for international students in China can be improved only by enhancing the ET and MS of international students and RA simultaneously.

Third, while strengthening the RA process, ET and MS conditions are strong substitutes in the process of improving the education quality of international students in China. In P1 (P1a, P1b) and P2 (P2a, P2b), when RA becomes one of the core existence conditions, TE and MS alternately become additional core existence conditions; in P1a and P2a, TE and MS alternately become core conditions or marginal conditions; in P1a and P2a, TE and MS alternate as core existence conditions or marginal nonexistence conditions. All other conditions being equal, each institution can choose to reinforce either ET or MS to raise the education quality of its international students according to its own situation.

Finally, even if it is not possible to raise the level of student sources, institutions can still effectively improve the quality of education for international students by strengthening ET and TM. Based on the above analysis, RA is the first priority in the process of improving the quality of education for international students in China. However, comparing P3 with P1a, P1b, P2a and P2b shows that RA is neither the only condition nor a necessary condition. In P3, RA is the possible marginal nonexistence condition. Thus, even if institutions are unable to improve the quality of their students, they can still make efforts to conduct educational ET, TM and possibly MS to achieve high-quality education for international students in China. This path is particularly important for institutions that cannot depend on RA due to deficiencies in reputation and infrastructure. It offers an effective way for these institutions to raise the quality of education for international students in China.

In a conclusion, the quality of international student education in China could be improved in five paths, P1a, P1b, P2a, P2b and P3. Those are all the combination of various conditional factors instead of single factors [33]. The overall educational quality depends upon the prevailing management system [35]. Currently, the most important and basic influencing factor is RA. The institutions should make efforts to improve the quality of new students [40]. However, even if it could not be “congenitally” improved, the quality of education still could be strengthened by the combination of ET, TM and possibly MS. It is imperative to explore all the important features of service quality to examine the sustainability of China’s international higher education [53]. In addition, it is found that the two conditions of TE and MS have a strong substitution in the process of improving the quality of education for international students in China, and any of them can be combined with RA, so as to promote the quality of education for international students in China more effectively.

5.2. Theoretical Ccontribution

This study makes three major contributions to the literature.

The first contribution concerns the research object and sample. Currently, there are more studies on international students studying in Europe and the United States, but relatively few studies on international students coming to China and even fewer studies on the quality of education given to the latter. In terms of research samples, previous empirical studies on international students coming to China have focused mainly on one or more institutions, and there is a lack of large sample studies covering all types of universities across the country. This paper selects all 425 colleges and universities with 200 or more international students in China in 2018 as the survey sample, thus providing full coverage of these 425 colleges and universities, which makes this study more objective.

Second, in terms of research methods, most scholars have adopted empirical and discursive methods to explore international student education, but few have conducted empirical studies. The few empirical studies lack in-depth analysis, and scholars mostly adopt the traditional analysis method of the “net effect”, ignoring the interaction among influencing factors. The quality of education for international students is determined by a combination of factors; thus, such a flat “net effect” analysis cannot explain the complex interdependent relationship among influencing factors. Configuration analysis adopts a holistic and systematic approach; that is, the configuration at the case level is used to analyze the results instead of a single independent factor. Configuration analysis is multidimensional and holistic, which gives it the advantage of strategic management and other issues [52]. Thus, this study adopted the fsQCA configuration analysis to study the paths based on the number of questionnaires collected, which not only enriches the toolbox of research methods in the field of international student education but also provides a clearer basis for understanding the improvement pathways for international student education in China.

Finally, in terms of the research perspective, education for international students is a significant component of the fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of the United Nations 2030, to provide “quality education”, and is an important part of sustainable development research. This paper places the quality of education for international students into the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Framework, which directs the development of education for international students in China with more goals and a sense of mission and broadens the research horizon of international student education in China.

5.3. Practical Application

First, Chinese institutions could adopt three main pathways to improve the education quality of international students rapidly. Path one (P1a, P1b) is to strengthen both RA and ET of international students while improving MS or TM; Path two(P2a, p2b) is to strengthen both RA and MS. This path is applicable to institutions without any possible condition improvement of FA and RS while with possible poor conditions of ET or TM. Path three (P3) is to strengthen both ET and TM of international students. This path is applicable to institutions without any possible condition improvement of FA and RS as well as may not improve RA condition while possible enhancing MS.

Second, each institution should take appropriate pathways according to its own situation. For the institutions that have the ability to improve the quality of new students by strengthening RA, either P1 or P2 could be selected according to the differences in other conditions. For the institutions that don’t have the ability to improve the quality of new students, P3 could be selected. That is to say "wide in and severe out". The institutions could pay special attention to teaching with clear education objectives and plan, strict degree defence and graduation standards, through cultivation in the "middle" and "export" link of graduation work to improve the quality of international student education. In the other perspective, for the institutions without any possible condition improvement of FA and RS, either P2 or P3 routes could be selected according to the differences in other conditions. For the institutions with possible condition improvement of FA and RS, P1 could be considered to be selected.

Third, RA should be attached great importance. Since the reform and opening up, the education of international students in China has developed rapidly, with the number of international students growing from 1,200 in 1978 to 492,000 in 2018. However, problems with the quality of education for international students have been increasingly exposed. Especially in the enrolment of international students, some institutions are at a disadvantage in the enrolment market and to reach the enrolment quantity target, there is no entrance examination, no strict qualification examination or even admissions criteria, resulting in an uneven and low quality of students, which seriously affects the reputation and development of international student education. Thus, the key task of institutions at present is to strengthen the examination of qualifications, language and abilities, carry out strict entrance examinations, improve admissions standards, provide good preparatory education, and attend to the process of enrolling and admitting international students to effectively improve student quality.

Fourthly, the combination effect of multiple factors and cooperation among relevant institution departments should be paid attention to improve the education quality of international students. The paper shows that high-quality education for international students is the result of the synergistic effect of multiple factors, and it is difficult for a single factor to play a role. P1, P2 and P3 are all multi-factor combination paths, and only the interaction of all factors can produce the best effect. Similarly, the international student education is also the result of the joint efforts of multiple institution departments. Only by fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of all departments can we effectively improve the education quality of international students.

5.4. Research Limitations

Although the interaction between different factors was considered in this study to form improvement paths of different quality, there are still the following shortcomings. However, in reality, the types of universities, regions and development bases are different, and their work focus and path measures should also be different, so further in-depth research on different types of institutions is needed. In terms of research conclusions, this research theory only stays in the theoretical perspective and does not test it in practice, so it can only provide reference opinions for universities to improve the quality of education for international students in China; at the same time, the sample of this study is Chinese universities, and it remains to be verified whether the research conclusions are applicable to the improvement of the quality of international student education in other countries, especially Asian countries.

5.5. Future Research Directions

As an important part of international cross-border education, international student education in China plays an important role in improving the global overall concept and cultural diversity awareness of both local and international students; holism and pluralism constitute the approach to sustainability and teaching [54]. Therefore, we have further studied the role of international student education in promoting global sustainable development. Furthermore, studies can also extend this line of research by conducting a comparative analysis of constructing a framework for improving the quality of international student education in Asian countries and China. Finally, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the current state of education for international students in China necessarily online teaching for the most part [55]. The difference in the future path for improving the quality of education for Chinese students under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic is also a problem worthy of further study and consideration.